Dipa Karmakar: India’s own Produnova likely to remain one-of-a-kind

At 31 years, considered past the shelf life for an international gymnast and with a body ravaged by multiple injuries, nobody was expecting Dipa Karmakar to really turn the clock back.

However, when the gymnast who agonisingly missed the bronze medal in Rio 2016 called time on a glorious, albeit chequered career on Monday, 7 October, a tinge of sadness was certainly inescapable for any Indian sports fan.

Will there be another Dipa Karmakar anytime soon in future?

Bishweshwar Nandi, her longtime coach and family friend, has this to say: ‘’It’s very doubtful if I can see another Dipa in my lifetime. There are a couple of promising teenager girls under me but I will talk about them once they achieve something.’’

It’s difficult to say what the future holds, of course, but there’s no denying that this petite athlete was more of a confounding outlier in a country with no legacy in gymnastics.

For someone born in Agartala, capital of Tripura, a sleepy north-eastern state with no pits for gymnasts, harbouring a dream to become the first woman gymnast from India to participate in the Olympics would have been wishful thinking — until Dipa Karmakar happened.

Looking at a five-year-old with flat feet, her parents were warned that she could never really be a gymnast.

But then that child made a remarkable journey of grit, determination and acquiring new skillsets — a barrier-breaker in more ways than one.

The fourth-place finish in the Olympics, which afflicted some of the most iconic names of Indian sport — Milkha Singh, P.T. Usha, 2008 gold medallist Abhinav Bindra (in 2016) — was also Karmakar’s high noon as an achiever. Yes, irrespective of the countless international medals she picked up during a long career — including a gold in the last Asian Championship in Tashkhent, in May this year.

However, the way she touched the lives of Indian sports fans showed in least three features on her over the years — Dipa Karmakar: The Small Wonder (in English); Rio Rani; and Dipanova (Bengali). Who knows, another biopic may be just around the corner now.

That last pain barrier

What was the last straw that led to Determined Dipa calling time on her career finally, especially at a time when she looked ready for a last shot despite failing to qualify for Paris 2024?

Speaking to the National Herald over the phone, coach Nandi admitted: ‘’She had resumed training for about two weeks now, but the pain turned out to be excruciating for her. The two ACL (anterior cruciate ligament) surgeries, not to speak of the shoulder, ankle and knee injuries, have taken such a toll on her body that it was decided not to push her further.’’

Karmakar’s tryst with injuries began way back in 2017, when she underwent surgery to treat an ACL tear and had to pull out of the Jakarta Asian Games at the last minute.

A knee injury came in the way of her qualifying for Tokyo 2020 next.

But what dealt a crippling blow to her career was a 21-month suspension (11 October 2021 to 10 July 2023) by the International Testing Agency for testing positive for a banned substance — higenamine, a natural substance that is a common addition to health supplements in the US, UK, EU and Canada, but a risky bet for athletes.

Returning to the ring after the ban, Karmakar topped the selection trials for the Hangzhou Asian Games in 2023 — but failed to make the cut due to a technicality of not having been an active participant over the preceding year.

Once hailed as India’s own ‘Produnova Queen’ (for the death-defying vault routine named after Russia’s Yelena Produnova), Karmakar began cutting a lonely figure at this point.

There was no doubt that the end was near.

Going by international standards, Karmakar has been over the hill for some time now — women gymnasts generally have a history of quitting the sport at a relatively young age. Simone Biles, who staged a phenomenal comeback in Paris after being down in the dumps in Tokyo, already looks an elder stateswoman of the sport at 27, with three Games on her CV.

John Geddert, the former US women’s team coach, tried to explain the phenomenon: ‘’Without sounding condescending to young women, this is a little girls’ sport. With their body changes and the wear-and-tear everybody goes through, once they become women, it just becomes very, very difficult.’’

The last time a 30-year-old won the all-round Olympics title for gymnastics was in 1952 — it was Maria Gorokhovskaya, for the USSR.

Paying it forward

Speaking her heart out on a social media post on Monday, Karmakar looks to have made peace with her lot, finally — admitting that all good things must come to an end.

There are, however, those who strongly felt that no sooner had Karmakar suffered the first of her ACL injuries, she should have reached out overseas for expert help, rather than keeping the faith in her own brains trust.

That said, her parting shot was: ‘’I may be retiring from gymnastics alright, but my connection with the sport will never go. I want to give back something to the sport — be it as a mentor or coach to support the dreams of girls like us.”

If she can, in the process, turn out a few gymnasts half as spunky as a Dipa Karmakar, she will have done Indian sport another great favour!